Beautiful! It has almost every Sonic character on it, such Dr. Eggman, Sonic, Fang, Bean, Jet, Mighty, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, etc.

Now we will be showing you the History about Sonic and other Sonic stuff!

HISTORY

In April 1990 SEGA wanted to introduce a better mascot (better than it's Alex Kidd mascot which began in 1985) that would be:

Official

Bring luck to the company

Rival with Nintendo's mascot Mario (created in 1981)

Better design (with a better character designer)

To be famous mascot (videogame character) like Mario

To be same colour as SEGA's logo

To sell more than 1 million copies than the previous mascot

So SEGA asked SEGA-AM8 (Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima) (developer of the Phantasy Star series (1987/88- )) to create a new mascot that would be better than the predessor itself. It was planned to be animal character and not a human character. They've planned that it could either be a:

According Naoto's concept drawing of 1990, the character was going to be faster than the speed of sound where planned that character would be called “Mr. Needelmouse” (to refer direct translation of the Japanese word for hedgehog, hanezuni) and later Sonic (ソニック; Romaji: Sonikku). His shoes was inspired from Michael Jackson's dancing shoes used in the album “Bad”, while the colour scheme for his famous shoes came from Santa Claus. Sonic's personality, on the other hand, was directly inspired by future-President Bill Clinton, who Ohshima felt embodied a modern sensibility of wanting to get things done right away, righting wrongs as they presented themselves instead of letting them linger.

Sonic in the same year made his unofficial appearance in Rad Mobile, an arcade racing game and then in 1991, a group of 15 people made the first Sonic game and was released on the 23rd June 1991 in North America, then in Europe (around the same month), Japan (26th July) and Central and South America in October 1991.

According to SEGA of Japan, Sonic was going to be born on an island called Christmas Island (an island in the Indian Ocean near Indonesia adminstered by Australia since 1958, that was once under Japanese Occupation from 1942-45). They also said that Sonic has been in lots of places in the world (Earth) and went to an island in New Zealand called South Island.

According to Sonic's technical documents, Sonic was a novel published by American writer Mary Garnet during the Second World War.

Here is an STI (Sega Technical Institute [part of SEGA of America Inc.]) translation of the technical document:

The Background Story: Sonic's Origin

Mary Garnet was a popular writer of children's books in the U.S. during the 1940's. Her Husband was a test pilot for the U.S. Air Force. His secret project was code named “Blue Gale” who's goal was to produce the first plane that would break the sound barrier. Mary affectionately nick-named her husband “Hedgehog” because of the way his hair always struck straight up when he took off his flight helmet. The nickname stuck and it inspired Mary to decorate his leather flight jacket with a blue cartoon mascot. Since her husband was so busy flying for the Air Force, Mary had to fill in for him raising their only daughter Sherry. Mary would spend the afternoons making up stories to tell Sherry and her friends. Oddly enough, it would always seem that a hedgehog would be the hero of the story. “Sonic” the hedgehog had many fantastic adventures usually protecting innocent people and little animals from evil men.

Sherry used to love hearing these stories and Mary used to love telling them to lots of children for many years (these stories and their characters were used as the basis for the Sonic video games from Sega. SEE: The Game Story).

In 1947, Chuck Yeager (also a test pilot for the U.S. Air Force) became the first man to break the sound barrier to become the “fastest man alive”.

But a little known incident took place earlier on the same day that has been lost in the record books, eclipsed by the historic event. Another pilot called Hedeghog had set out to break the same record but with tragically different results. His ill-fated jet plane was rocketing towards the speed record when it suddenly started to vibrate violently and then exploded in a tremendous fireball! Nobody seems to remember the real name of the brave pilot, but old-timers around the airport still remember the emblem of Sonic the blue hedgehog……

About forty years later, a freelance camera woman named Meg came to town on an assignment to cover an upcoming Air Show. As she stopped for lunch, she decided to browse through an interesting looking Antique shop near the airport.

Inside she discovered a very dusty old leather flight jacket with the emblem of a strange character and the letters S-O-N-I-C on the back. She tried to decide if this character was a lion, a cat, or some other strange animal.

But something drew her to it and she instantly liked it a lot. She tried it on and the shopkeeper couldn't help but notice:

“Say Lady….. looks like that Jacket is just your size! Do you like it?”

“Well, I guess it's probably the name of that funny-lookin critter on the back.”

“Sonic.. yes Sonic!… Oh I remember, he is SONIC THE HEDGEHOG! I used to hear the stories from an old neighbor lady when I was a little girl. He's a little hedgehog that can run faster than sound!”

Meg laughed out loud as the rush of childhood memories poured back to her. She dusted off the old jacket, eagerly paid for it, and she giggled to herself as she wore it out of the store. This immediately became a favorite possession and she wore it everywhere. She could not explain the strange sensation she felt when she w as wearing this jacket, but something made her feel quite comfortable and safe with it on.

Upon arriving at the Air Show, Meg started taking pictures of all the vintage aircraft. At one point during the show, a group of old WW2 planes were doing a low-level formation fly-by when suddenly one of the planes veered off and fell to the ground! In the panic of the following explosion, Meg found herself surrounded by fire. She tried to escape but became disoriented as all she could see was a wall of flame. Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed her just as she was passing out from the intense heat. As she slipped into unconsciousness, all she could see was a strange blue form and she felt the sensation of tremendous acceleration.

Meg woke up staring at the ceiling of a hospital room. She was a little singed and badly shaken, but not really hurt. “Have I been dreaming?” she asked herself. Her nurse told her that she had been found unconscious lying on a grassy hill miles from the airport. No one could explain how she got there, but her jacket had been burned and Meg noticed that the emblem had disappeared!

Could it be? She had this strange idea that somehow Sonic must have saved her, but she stopped short of saying anything because she didn't want to sound crazy. Even though it seemed impossible, all she could say was “I don't know…..”.

Later, as she developed the pictures in the camera of the last moments of the Air Show, Meg's heart stopped as the last exposure came into view. It showed the blurred image of a large pair of red shoes with a white stripe…..

SONIC!!!

Was it really him? What other explanation? She was confused….but it seemed so real! A moment later, she gasped with excitement at the thought of seeing him again.

The Game Story: (adapted from the Sonic Stories of Mary Garnet)

Sonic was born on a small island called Christmas Island. But his love for adventure called him away and he has visited so many different places on Earth that he doesn't really have a place he considers to be home. The Sonic stories center around his favorite group of islands including South Island (Sonic 1), Westside Island (Sonic 2), and Angel Island (Sonic 3). The first Sonic Story is located on South Island which is quite beautiful. This island is known for the curious fact that it floats around in the ocean. That is why it can not be found on any map. Sonic is fond of sitting on its beach in his beach chair, wearing sunglasses, and listening to cool rock music. Sonic loves to sing in his own rock band, and enjoys being with his friends, but he is just as happy to be alone.

Sonic would be very happy enjoying his own pastimes were it not for the constant intrusions of his arch rival Dr. Robotnik (also sometimes known as Eggman because of his round shape). The evil doctor seems to have an endless supply of fiendish plots to take over the world, but Sonic seems to always find a way to frustrate his plans and keep him at bay. This has given Sonic somewhat of a celebrity status with the local inhabitants and he is loved by all as much as Robotnik is hated by all.

Westside Island is a very ancient island with plenty of treasures and ancient ruins. It is also said to contain a small supply of a very powerful natural crystals called “Chaos Emeralds“. These multi-colored emeralds have tremendous energy and could be used to create the most powerful nuclear bombs and laser weapons if they fell into the wrong hands. Legend says that they exist here, but nobody can remember actually seeing them. The reason for this is that the Chaos Emeralds exist in a _different dimension_ and no one has yet been able to find a way to actually possess them.

One day, Dr. Robotnik heard the stories of the Chaos Emeralds and he vowed to do whatever it took to acquire them for his own evil purposes. He, and his henchmen, built a huge fortress where he made robots of many types and sent them off to find the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic stood up in defiance of Robotnik's troops and kicked them all back into the fortress telling them never to come out again. But the evil doctor had other plans. as he sulked away, he vowed that he would find the Chaos Emeralds, and he would get his revenge on Sonic the Hedgehog.

A short time later, Sonic made an amazing discovery. His friends had all disappeared! Robotnik had been capturing all of the defenseless animals in the countryside and had changed them into robots! Dr. Robotnik was converting Sonic's friends into slaves and now only Sonic to save them! Can Sonic do it?

Will Robotnik succeed in his quest for the emeralds while exacting his revenge on Sonic? Can Sonic subdue the hoards of robot animals without hurting his friends inside? Will Robotnik take over the _whole world_?

So begins the video game saga of Sonic the Hedgehog……

Primary cast of Game Characters

Sonic

Sonic is the star. He is a cool blue dude with an attitude. he is _not_ a “do-gooding” hero. He is loyal to his friends and has a good sense of right and wrong, but he is a very independent guy who is mostly interested in doing his own thing. He is not book smart, but he is very street smart. He loves beauty, nature, and adventure, but his primary passion is for speed and indeed he can run faster than anyone on the planet. Two things he does _not_ do are; swim (he sinks like a stone), or ride around in cars, motorcycles, etc. (why _should_ he when he can run faster than them all!). He fancies himself as a bit of a ladies man, but he does not like to be chased by girls. He is generally impatient and likes to get things done quickly. Sometimes this can work against him because he is not very detail oriented. But for the most part, Sonic is as quick witted as he is fast footed and this gives him an extraordinary combination of talents that keep him the idol of kids around the globe.

Miles (Tails) Prower

Miles Prower (from Miles-per-hour), nicknamed “Tails” is a two-tailed flying fox with the amazing ability to use his twin tails like the blades of a helicopter allowing him to fly (and mostly keep up with Sonic). He made his first appearance in Sonic 2, and he is truly the little brother that Sonic never had. Miles worships Sonic and wants to be just as fast and cool as his hero. He is about 10 years old, weighs 15 pounds, and is about 2.9 feet tall.

Miles is a very smart little fox and is also very good with mechanics. He has been known to help Sonic by giving him a helicopter lift when needed. His inquisitive nature and tag-along style get him into trouble occasionally, but Sonic always seems to be able to help out his little buddy when the chips are down.

Dr. Robotnik

The evil doctor (also known as Eggman) has been a bad egg from the very beginning. Nobody knows quite where he came from, but he is definitely behind any problem that comes up. Dr. Robotnik _loves_ machines. He loves them so much that his idea of a perfect world would be to have it full of _nothing_ but machines. He thinks they are beautiful and he likes that he can control them. A genuine genius megalomaniac, he spends all of his time trying to replace the natural world with his beautiful machines He is not very concerned about saving the planet (being a notorious polluter), and he particularly likes the idea of exploiting the oceans for their riches (This really gets to Sonic, because Sonic loves the oceans and can't stand the idea of Robotnik messing with them). In order to have ultimate control in his quest, Robotnik must find and control all of the Chaos Emeralds, and most importantly…..Sonic.

Fortunately for everyone, Sonic is an incredibly fast moving target and is usually one step ahead of him.

Long ago, an ancient civilization called the Echidnas lived on Angel Island and had mastered the secrets of the Chaos Emeralds. so powerful were these emeralds that the entire island floats high in the sky. The island's existence has long been a secret because not many people have ever seen it as it is always obscured by clouds. But the Echidna Tribe mysteriously disappeared leaving Knuckles as their lone descendant and guardian of these secrets.

Knuckles is about 15 years old, wears his hair in “dreadlocks” and has a generally cool aura about him. He is quite athletic and can run almost as fast as Sonic, climb vertical rock walls, and float down (like flying) from high places. He can also use the spikes on his knuckles to help him dig which is one of his favorite activities. Knuckles has a strong sense of honor and has a good heart (he is the equivalent to Doronpa in the Oba-Q story). He is very clever and smart, but had lived his life in solitude and was not accustomed to dealing with characters from the outer world, much less such a cunning one as Dr. Robotnik. This is why he was easily deceived by Robotnik into thinking that Sonic was a bad guy trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds. This deception allowed Robotnik to pit Knuckles against Sonic as a powerful adversary.

Knuckles snatched up the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic and then used his vast knowledge of the Island and his ability to dig to expertly escape from Sonic and Tails and to set up hidden traps and obstacles to slow their pursuit.

Fortunately, this deception could not last because both Sonic and Knuckles ultimately discovered they were fighting on the same side of the same cause.

They finally vowed to work together to protect Angel Island and ultimately defeat Robotnik.

While Sonic visits South Island, he meets a man (islander) called Dr. Eggman, who became his arch-nemesis.

Sadly, when Sonic recgonized by SEGA's international divisions (SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd.), they didn't prefer Japanese origins, which came from Mary Garnet's Sonic stories. SEGA of America, Inc. wanted to make it's own versions of Sonic.

In the American origins (which spread to Europe and probably South Korea and Australia), Sonic lives on a planet called Mobius (which SEGA of America regarded it as a future of Earth, however other companies like DiC [who made the cartoons], Archie [who made the comics] and Fleetway [who made Sonic the Comic] regarded it as a seperate planet) and the enemy is Dr. Robotnik (Western version of Dr. Eggman until 1999, when the Dr. Eggman name appeared in the West). This was originated in it's own American comic book created by Francis Mao. Francis Mao also made the first North-American Sonic character designs that were used on North-American box arts of Sonic games up to late 1994, when Naoto's drawing were used. However, the Europeans didn't use Francis Mao's designs, instead they used a modified version of Naoto Oshima designs of Sonic.

The promotional comic was to help spread the Sonic brand in North America

Japanese box art of the first Sonic game. It was released over there on the 26th July 1991

Soon, Sonic success has saw other companies to make characters/mascots to rival him, such characters included Crash Bandicoot (Sierra), Sly Cooper, Spyro (Sierra), Sparkster, Blinx, Supersonix (mobile phone game character), Bubsy and Grefónic (who is a character from a sticker published by the Spanish crisp Gresosa S.A.) .

In 1992 Sonic Team (formerly SEGA-AM8, founded in 1988) wanted to make SEGA's mascot to have various sequels and to perhaps still make Sonic Games by the year 2000 and future years. This led a second Sonic game Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but sadly Sonic Team had problems at their Japanese studio (because Yuji and Naoto didn't like the SEGA of Japan's laws very much) so they decided to make Sonic games in the USA at the SEGA Technical Institute (part of SEGA of America, Inc.) in Hayward, California, USA (later in Redwood City and now in San Francisco [since 1999]) which continued to develop Sonic games overthere until 1995, however some Sonic games (notably with American influence in them) continued in the USA with the new Sonic Team USA in 1998 (later SEGA Studio USA) until 2008, however SEGA later began to have a studio in the People's Republic of China, recently. 1992 also saw the year of the first Sonic manga (Japanese comic).

In 1993, this saw Sonic rapid character recognition in the USA (which became part of America's videogame interests). This led to the Americans making their own Sonic games (that were not official) such Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machhine and Sonic Spinball. This also led to the new comic book in the UK (Sonic the Comic) and USA (Sonic the Hedgehog) and the new Animated shows starting with the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993/1993-1995) introduced by DiC in the United States.

First Sonic TV show 1993

1994 led to lots of Sonic games, such as Sonic and Tails 2 (Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble in Western markets), Sonic Drift, the Game Gear version of Sonic Spinball, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic Chaos, Sonic and Knuckles and the cancelled Sonic Stadium game.

By 1995 SEGA had released 5 Sonic games; Sonic Drift 2, Sonic Labyrinth, Tails Adventure, Tails Skypatrol and Knuckles' Chaotix. That year led to Sonic Character games.

In 1996 Sonic's gameplay began to change, changing from a 2D side-scrolling Mario style into a 3-D gameplay, which started with Sonic 3-D Blast (SEGA Saturn) and Sonic 3-D Flickies Island (Mega Drive/Genesis). Then, SEGA wanted the new Sonic for that year to have 3-D graphics which started with the Sonic the Fighters (Sonic Championship in Western markets) arcade game which featured new characters such as Bean and Bark, which were later droped since 1997 and also that was the last year of Fang's (originally as Nack in the West) appearance.

In 1997 SEGA released 2 games, Sonic R and Sonic Jam, both for SEGA Saturn, which Sonic R made Sonic to appear in 32-bit appearances, along with the cancelled Sonic X-Treme. That year, Yuji Uekawa replaced Naoto Oshima as Sonic's character designer starting with Sonic R.

Yuji Uekawa is Sonic's current character designer who redesigned him in 1998 with Sonic Adventure

In early 1998 the Sonic Classic Era was beginning to end along with PC version of Sonic R, Game.com version of Sonic Jam (only released in the USA) and the North-American released Sonic and Garfield Super Pack for PC.

1998 and 1999 saw the release of Sonic Adventure. Those year saw various changes for the Western market, by changing the name Dr. Robotnik to Dr. Eggman (as in Japan) and using Sonic's World as the name of Sonic's planet (replacing Mobius in Western sources and Earth in Japanese sources). 1999 also saw the year of the U.S. market Sonic Pocket Adventure for Neo Pocket Color and when Naoto Oshima left SEGA to start his own company “Artoon”. Also, those years made Yuji Uekawa redesign Sonic in his present form.

Yuji Uekawa completely redesigned him making a bit larger and having green-coloured irises

2000 saw the year of only 1 Sonic game released, Sonic Shuffle, a party game.

To Commemorate Sonic's 10 Anniversary in 2001 SEGA launched Sonic Adventure 2 for Dreamcast, just before it ended production. It also released Sonic Adventure 2: Battle for Nintendo Gamecube and Sonic Advance for Game Boy Advance. That year saw the début of Shadow and Rouge, which Shadow became one of the most loved Sonic characters of all time.

Shadow the Hedgehog as seen on a Japanese Sonic X hi-spech Volume 10 DVD

In 2002 SEGA released Sonic Battle and Sonic Advance 2 for Game Boy Advance as well as Sonic Mega Collection for Gamecube.

In 2003 SEGA, TMS Entertainment and Sonic Team launched a new Sonic TV series called Sonic X, which became the most succesful Sonic series ever. Also in late December 2003 SEGA released Sonic Heroes in Japan, along with export markets in early 2004.

Sonic X became the most succesful Sonic TV Show

2004 also saw the year of the end of Sonic X in Japan, Sonic Advance 3, PC version of Sonic Heroes (November) and SEGA Superstars (not to confuse with SEGA Superstars Tennis) an Eye-Toy game featuring various SEGA games and Sonic Mega Collection Plus.

2005 saw the release of Sonic Gems Collection and Shadow the Hedgehog, and probably the Japanese release of Sonic Riders, as well as Sonic Rush for Nintendo DS.

2006 saw the export release of Sonic Riders, the U.S. release of Sonic Rivals and Japanese release of Sonic the Hedgehog. This year was when Yuji Naka left Sonic Team to start his own SEGA studio Prope and Sonic's 15th Anniversary.

In 2007 SEGA released the export release of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii), Sonic Rush Adventure (DS), export release Sonic Rivals, Wii version of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games and Sonic Rivals 2.

2008 saw the end of Sonic game production in the USA at SEGA Studio USA, when a person at Sonic Team said “No more Sonic Team USA”, as well as the DS version of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, SEGA Superstars Tennis, Sonic Unleashed, SEGA Genesis Collection and Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

2009 saw the release of Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, Japanese releases of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and Sonic Unleashed (as Sonic World Adventure), Sonic and the Black Knight and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.

For 2011 SEGA will be releasing Sonic Generations, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 and Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

In Novmeber 2010, SEGA announced that it addmitted to “Too Much Sonic” and it might plan to end the Sonic brand in 2012 and would promise 3 more games for 2011 (we do not know if it will happen or not).

Novels

U.K. Novels

The first novel published in the U.K. was a standalone tale adapting the western-developed Kintobor origin. It was published by Penguin Group under their “Fantail” imprint, which is itself part of their “Puffin” imprint.

Stay Sonic: The Official Sega Handbook by Mike Pattenden.

James Wallis, Marc Gascoigne and Carl Sargent (under the pseudonym of Martin Adams) wrote four Sonic the Hedgehog novels based on the origin established in Stay Sonic. They were published by Virgin Publishing.

Sonic the Hedgehog in Robotnik's Laboratory

Sonic the Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension

Sonic the Hedgehog and the Silicon Warriors

Sonic the Hedgehog in Castle Robotnik

U.S. Novels

Troll Associates hired Michael Teitelbaum to write a series of Sonic the Hedgehog novels for the American market, based on early concepts of the Saturday morning series and the Archie comic book.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog: Robotnik's Revenge

Sonic the Hedgehog: Fortress of Fear

Sonic the Hedgehog: Friend or Foe?

Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic X-Treme

Michael Teitelbaum also worked on the following related books under Troll Associates.

Sonic the Hedgehog Activity Book

How to Draw Sonic the Hedgehog & the Gang

The first of Teitelbaum's novels was also adapted into a picture book, published by Watermill Press. It was adapted by Judy Nayer and illustrated by Ron Zalme.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Picture Books

Ladybird

In the U.K., Ladybird published a series of Sonic-related picture books in 1994. For whatever reason, both the author and the artists of these books were uncredited.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Invisible Robotnik

Sonic the Hedgehog: Robotnik's Oil

Sonic the Story – Another retelling of the Kintobor origin, narrated by Tails.

Golden Books Entertainment

A series of 3 books written by John Michlig and illustrated by Art Mawhinney were published by Golden Books Entertainment under their “Look Look Books” banner. Originally available through Scholastic book clubs, these books have sold a combined total of over half a million copies worldwide. While the two who worked on the books never met, Michlig later praised the way Mawhinney drew out his scripts. [1]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic's Shoes Blues

Sonic the Hedgehog 2: The Secret Admirer

Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Up Against the Wall

A fourth book was published under their “Big Golden Book” banner, written by Parker Smith and illustrated by Penry Creative.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Double Trouble

Gamebooks

A number of gamebooks were published in the mid-90's for the U.K. market featuring Sonic the Hedgehog.

Ladybird

Ladybird published a series of four “adventure gamebooks”, which are dissimilar to the typical format in that they're largely pictorial and involve instructions such as “Count up the flying badniks – the total is the number of the next page.”

Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook 1

Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook 2

Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook 3

Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook 4

Penguin Group

Once again under their “Puffin” imprint, Penguin published a series of six Sonic Adventures gamebooks (unrelated to the similarly-titled game) in the traditional format.

Book 1 – Metal City Mayhem by James Wallis

Book 2 – Zone Rangers by James Wallis

Book 3 – Sonic v Zonic by Nigel Gross and Jon Sutherland

Book 4 – The Zone Zapper by Nigel Gross and Jon Sutherland

Book 5 – Theme Park Panic by Marc Gascoigne and Jonathan Green

Book 6 – Stormin' Sonic by Marc Gascoigne and Jonathan Green

Puzzle Books

Ladybird

Once again, Ladybird used the Sonic the Hedgehog license to release a series of “Puzzle Books,” which were a series of activities and riddles.

Sonic the Hedgehog Puzzle Book 1

Sonic the Hedgehog Puzzle Book 2

Ladybird also published a series of “find the hidden items” books in the style of the Where's Wally?/Where's Waldo? franchise

Where's Sonic?

Where's Sonic Now?

Other

Publications International also released their own version of a “Where's Waldo” book featuring Sonic the Hedgehog, also using the Freedom Fighters from Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Look and Find)

Sonic X Books

A series of books based on the Sonic X animated series were also produced, published by Grosset & Dunlap.

Meteor Shower Messenger by Paul Ruditis

Spaceship Blue Typhoon by Diana Gallagher

Aqua Planet by Charlotte Fullerton

Dr. Eggman Goes to War by Charlotte Fullerton

Battle at Ice Pallace by Charlotte Fullerton

Desperately Seeking Sonic by Charlotte Fullerton

Others

This is a list of other assorted Sonic the Hedgehog books that don't fit into the above categories.

Music is a big part of the Sonic franchise, and the Summer of Sonic has played host to several key artists and composers in the past. This year’s convention will be no different, and for Sonic’s 20th we’ll be in the presence of a popular musician who will be making his second appearance at the convention. Not just because we wanted him back (which we did), or that you wanted him back (which you did) but that he really, REALLY wanted to come back and see you all again.

We welcome back the legendary Jun Senoue, music director for many of Sonic Team’s games and the composer for a range of unforgettable adventures such as Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. This year, Senoue-san is behind the incredible score to the 20th Anniversary title, Sonic Generations and he has been kind enough to take time out of his insanely busy schedule to enjoy the Summer of Sonic event with fans of his work.

Though not performing this year, Senoue-san will be present to meet with fans throughout the day, making for an electrifying and nostalgic event for fans of all ages. He’ll also be part of a special as yet to be announced item also involving Iizuka-san and Naka-san. Stay tuned for more details on that.

If you hadn’t gathered before you’re really being spoiled this year for people to see.

The blue hedgehog has now got an official Tuenti page created by SEGA of Spain. Tuenti is a Spanish social network like Facebook, but only used by Spanish people. Currently it has 72 members. Even before it, there was a “fans de sonic the hedgehog” page as well introduced in June, last year.

There is a reason I referred to this Summer Of Sonic as “The Special Stage”.

As you know we’ve been somewhat tight lipped on guests and events for this SOS. Well there’s a good reason for that as we’ve been in negotiations for a loooong time to secure them. With Sonic’s 20th year it only makes sense that we really went all out to get you the best we could. We’re now at a point where we’re able to actually tell you:

So we’re delighted to announce our headline guests for Summer Of Sonic! Not that our other guests aren’t special of course, but this is really quite a coup. First up ladies and gentlemen, joining us at Summer Of Sonic to celebrate Sonic’s twenty years will be a man who has worked with our little blue pal since 1994.

The head man himself, TAKASHI IIZUKA!

Multi-time Producer and Director (including both Sonic Adventure titles, Sonic Colours and the upcoming Sonic Generations), Game Designer on titles like Sonic 3 & Knuckles and the original NiGHTS into Dreams and not forgetting being the current head of Sonic Team itself. Takashi Iizuka will be flying in from Japan especially to join us.

From Svend “Dreadknux” Joscelyne:

Without a shadow of a doubt, every single Sonic the Hedgehog fan in the world has dreamed of this – an opportunity to meet the man who has been a creative force in the Sonic franchise since its very conception. The man most commonly referred to as the “father of Sonic,” even after leaving SEGA back in 2006 to form his own studio.

No, I can hardly believe I’m writing this myself.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honour that I reveal our second special headline guest – one of the men that kick-started the Sonic franchise that we all love.

YUJI NAKA.

As the programmer for the original Sonic the Hedgehog Mega Drive game, Yuji Naka was responsible for creating the gameplay mechanics and physics of the 16-bit classic, while influencing the design of the character due to his ‘spin attack’ concept.

Since then, he has led the development of almost every single Sonic title until his departure, assumed the lead role at Sonic Team and created many other iconic franchises such as NiGHTS Into Dreams, ChuChu Rocket! and Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg.

Naka-san now leads his own independent game studio, PROPE, which caught the world’s attention with Wii party game Let’s Tap and reminded everyone of his flair for unique gameplay design with Ivy the Kiwi? While he is no longer involved with creating Sonic titles, the hedgehog still has a special place in his heart.

This year, Naka-san will be attending the Summer of Sonic 2011 to officially celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog’s 20th Anniversary with his old friend and colleague, Iizuka-san, and to share the experience directly with the fans. How lucky are we to be in the presence of two of the biggest men behind the Sonic franchise!? Exceptionally lucky.

If you’re currently shaking in excitement right now, just imagine how we feel back here – the chances of this ever happening were incredibly slim, and thanks to the work of SEGA Europe, SEGA Japan, Sonic Team, Iizuka-san, Naka-san and the organisers of the Summer of Sonic, we now have the stage set for the best fan party that ever lived!

Sega of America has announced details on their latest blog about the Sonic Boom event. The event will include prizes such as T-Shirts and hats. Also, demos of Sonic Generations will be on hand. Folks who want to get in without a ticket will have to wait until others leave in order for a chance to get in. That means those of you without a pass may still have a chance to get in. And the best news of all………..

&nbsp;

“We don’t want to give all of our surprises away, but we do want to let you know of some awesome things to expect at Sonic Boom!

You’ll get to play Sonic Generations. We will have X360 and PS3 gaming stations set up around the venue so you can play! You’ll be the first group of fans that get to play the game, and we’re really excited to let you get your hands on it.

Tell us your Sonic memories. We’ll have a special booth set up with a video crew, so you can tell us your best memories of Sonic. You never know where that video will turn up…

Needlemouse: the Musical – LIVE! The US winners of Sonic’s 19th birthday contest will be there to perform their fantastic musical live on stage.

Cake! No lie… we’ll have cupcakes at the event to celebrate Sonic’s 20th anniversary.”

Cupcakes! Honest to God cupcakes! Who can resist?! I’m a bit disappointed that the musical guests is the Needlemouse musical thing as I was hoping for Crush 40 or Richard Jacques as I originally predicted since he’ll be in town around that time, but it still sounds like a real fun evening.